Danny Trejo: From Convict to A-List
IFQ’s Stuart Alson speaks with Danny Trejo as he discusses his first role as a convict, Robert Rodriguez, and his latest film Valley of Angels (Trejo won Best Actor and Valley of Angels won Grand Jury at the New York International Independent Film &Video Festival). According to levelblue.com: “Trejo has developed a prolific career in the movie business, yet his road to success has been hard earned and everything but typical. From imprisonment to helping young people battle drug addiction, acting to producing, the name, face, and achievements of Danny Trejo are well-recognized in Hollywood.”
With all due respect, Trejo is a model citizen of how an individual can transform from serving time in the state penitentiary to being a respected actor (Trejo has 142 films under his belt). From convict to A-list, IFQ gives you a personal, candid interview—redemption at its finest.
IFQ: What do you think about Valley of Angels? How do you feel about dealing with a new director?
Danny Trejo: He’s cool. A lot of the time, new directors are willing to listen. When you show up and you have 20 years experience on a movie and here’s a guy who has 12 months, you know what, it’s like the smart guy will kind of pull you aside and talk to you. He did; that director did. We talked about what do you think…, so he knows his stuff. The minute he starts talking to people with 20 years experience, you know he knows his stuff.
IFQ: You mostly act in bigger, studio films. What made you agree to do an independent film like Valley of Angels?
DT: Studios pay the rent and a lot of the time you do independents just for the love of making a movie. I love doing independent movies because 9 times out of 10 when you do an independent movie, everybody that’s on it is working for very little money so you know they love the game.
IFQ: So you are just doing it because you love movies and the studios pay the rent, but you don’t mind helping out someone just starting out.
DT: That’s what this is all about. I think this is why God put me in this position was just to help.
IFQ: Well, you started somewhere right? How did you get into it?
DT: I was a drug counselor and one of the kids who I was working with called me up one night about 11 o’ clock and he was trying to stay clean, and this was 1985, that was when cocaine was rampant. That was when even the script girl was doing cocaine. He was trying to stay clean, so he asked me to come down. I went down there just to support him. I thought he had a regular kind of job and it ended up being the movie set of Runaway Train with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts. I used to box while I was in prison, lightweight and welterweight champion of every penitentiary I was in. When I walked on that set, this person asked if I wanted to be in the movie. I said, you know, “What do I have to do?” and he said, “Do you want to be an extra?” and I said, “An extra what?” [Laughs.] I didn’t know what the fuck an extra was. And he said, “Can you act like a convict?” [Laughs.] You know, I’ve been locked up in every penitentiary in the state. [Laughs.] I’ll give it a shot. So the minute I took off my shirt and changed into that blue shirt, this guy comes over and says, “Hey, you are Danny Trejo!” and I said, “Yeah, what’s up?” and he said, “I’m Eddie Bunker.” And I said “I know who you are,”– because Eddie Bunker was with me in the penitentiary. He was a writer; he used to write stories and he said, “Danny, do you want a job?” and I said, “I’ve got one; they are going to give me $50 for acting like a convict.”
IFQ: [Laughs.]
DT: He said, “No, no, no, we need someone to train one of the actors how to box.” I said, “Yeah, what’s it pay?” And he said, “$320 a day.” My first thought was how bad do you want this guy beat up? I thought for $320 they were pissed at somebody and wanted me to fuck them up. You know, I would have done it for 50 bucks, but I started training Eric Roberts how to box and I think he was scared of me, so he was doing everything that I told him to do and the director who had a lot of problems with him saw that he would do whatever I told him and so the director, Andrei Konchalovsky, hired me. He was Russian, right and his exact words to me were, “You be in movie. You work with Eric.” That’s all I did. I trained Eric every day when they needed him and I would take him to the set and stuff. Then all of a sudden, I was the boxer in that movie Runaway Train.
IFQ: So basically, if you never did drugs, you would have never been an actor? If you never started drugs, you wouldn’t have made it because you became a drug counselor when you quit drugs and then you ended up on the set and then you ended up making it.
DT: You have to remember I’d been clean for almost 17 years before I got into the business.
IFQ: How many movies have you been in?
DT: IMDB, I think, has 142. What this career has done for me is it gave me the honor of being able to go to Walter Reed Hospital to see all of our soldiers–the guys who have been hurt. Walter Reed is where they first land when they come back from the war. I was there Monday and Tuesday and I got to talk to some of our wounded veterans. It’s such an honor, man. Those guys were so great.
IFQ: So you like to give back and you really believe in God and all of that stuff?
DT: You have to, homes, you have to. You know what, before–I was in prison, then I started believing. Look at me now.
IFQ: What happened? How did you get in prison to begin with?
DT: You know drugs, robbery–you know.
IFQ: All that stuff. Where did you grow up?
DT: I started off in East LA and then ended up growing up in Pacoima.
IFQ: Did you get into religion when you were in prison?
DT: Yeah, well you know, religion was a little hard for me. I started in AA and I started just trying to be a better person. Now, I am a Christian. Before, I was just in AA and NA.
IFQ: You are Robert Rodriguez’s cousin?
DT: Yeah, second cousin.
IFQ: Does that help you, hurt you or does it matter?
DT: Well, I didn’t really meet Robert until my career was going pretty good. I met him when I did Desperado, which was probably about 10 years ago. I was already pretty well-established as the bad guy. He said, “Hey, your name is Navajas from now own.”
IFQ: [Laughs.] You are Mexican, so do you have a lot of cousins?
DT: Yeah, you better know it! [Laughs.] There’s a lot coming out of the woodwork now.
IFQ: You are in Grindhouse for a minute for a trailer. Are they really going to make a real movie, Machete?
DT: They are going to make Machete. In fact, Robert and I have been talking about and kicking over some ideas and stuff.
IFQ: So you will be the main guy in the film?
DT: Yes. I’ll be the lead.
IFQ: You had big movies like Heat. What was it like being in that movie?
DT: Well, it was really an honor just to work with people like Val Kilmer, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jon Voight. I knew Jon Voight from Runaway Train, and then I did Anaconda with him. When we did Heat, it was amazing working with Michael Mann, one of the top directors. I’d also worked with Michael Mann before on The Camarena Drug Wars.
IFQ: When you get these parts, do you have to read or audition or do they just know that they need you and that’s it?
DT: You know what, 9 times out of 10, when they call me, they already know what they want. It’s not like I’m up against guys who look like Leonardo DiCaprio.
IFQ: Do you think you will ever make a love story?
DT: Well, I did a movie called Sherrybaby. I was the romantic lead in that. I worked with Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was so funny, everyone said, how did you prepare for that? I was just like, look at Maggie Gyllenhaal! What are you talking about? [Laughs.]
She played the role of a woman who served a three year prison sentence. She comes out and everybody abuses her, and “anytime you want a job baby, I’ll give you a job.” You know what I mean? They all use her and I am the only one who kind of helps her.
IFQ: What is the best thing that ever happened to you since you started in the film business?
DT: Working in the movies with my kids and my wife.
IFQ: What do they do?
DT: I got them in as extras on a movie, Delta Farce. Then my wife has worked with me different times—Walker Texas Ranger, Nice Guys. It’s a lot of fun. I think God blesses us with this career and then you have to give back.
IFQ: Yeah, you can’t get a big head or anything like that. You have to realize it’s a gift.
DT: Everybody who does ends up in rehab.
IFQ: [Laughs.] Yeah, now drugs are going crazy. What do you think about the drugs in the country today?
DT: If you look at it right now, heroin is so prevalent and one of the reasons is because we are not taking care of business over there in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the main world supplier for heroin, for opium. Heroin is flooding our market, flooding our street.
IFQ: What makes the people want to do it so bad?
DT: Well, there are people who have addictive personalities. There are people who have obsessive compulsive behavior and then you get into some kinds of drugs, the heavy drugs. It’s like anything else. It’s like doing the biggest.
IFQ: Yeah, it’s like some people who do it once a year and then other people, that’s it, who keep doing it and doing it, whether it’s sex or gambling, anything.
DT: I believe in putting heroin addicts on methadone maintenance. I believe in detoxification.
IFQ: You worked with Rob Zombie?
DT: Rob’s my pal.
IFQ: You worked with him on The Devil’s Rejects.
DT: The Devil’s Rejects and Halloween. I just finished Halloween with him.
IFQ: How is it?
DT: It’s great, man. It’s awesome.
IFQ: What’s it like? He’s a rock guy. Does he make a good director?
DT: He’s a really good director. He comes under the same modality as Robert Rodriguez.
IFQ: What makes a good director? Somebody who knows what they want?
DT: Well yeah, somebody who knows what they want and somebody who already has the movie in his head and is able to communicate what he wants to an actor and does not have such a big ego that can’t listen to “what about this way” and finds some kind of middle ground between himself and the actor. Rob Zombie does and so does Robert Rodriguez. If you come up with a better idea, Rob will be like, “Yeah, yeah, let’s do it, let’s do it that way.”
IFQ: What about coming from where you came from and all–the Hollywood people now call you, oh Mr. Trejo, Mr. Trejo, do you want a sandwich? Mr.Trejo, this and that. [Laughs.]
DT: I know, I laugh. A lot of them, who don’t already know me, always want to know where I studied, “Where did you study?” And I tell them, “Oh, robbing Vons.”
IFQ: [Laughs.] That’s good. Do you use the Stanislavski method?
DT: That’s funny. I always say that my teacher was a guy named Juan Strasberg.
IFQ: [Laughs.]
DT: He’s over in Cell Block A. [Laughs.]
IFQ: What do you think? Do all these people need to go to all these acting schools?
DT: There is nothing wrong with them because it hones your craft. It’s like keep doing it. But, you know, for me, I see people like waiting and waiting and waiting for the right part. It’s like jumping over a quarter to get a nickel. I take whatever comes. You want me to be a tree? I’ll be a tree.
IFQ: Yeah, just take the work.
DT: See, I had to put this acting thing kind of down like a painter or plumber or mechanic. I’m not going to say no, I don’t want to paint that house or paint that house or wait for a bigger [house]. I just do whatever comes up. It’s a job.